Analytical Studies of Selected Cantatas by J.S. Bach

Analytical Studies of Selected Cantatas by J.S. Bach PDF Author: Owen Belcher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Musical analysis
Languages : en
Pages : 856

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Book Description
Johann Sebastian Bach is considered by music historians, music theorists, performers, and audiences among the most significant composers of the Western world. Yet, the genre in which he was most prolific--the church cantata--has received little attention from the music-theoretical community beyond corpus studies of aria forms.\, listener's guides, and listings of madrigalisms. Crucially, there is very little detailed musical analysis of cantatas, other than chorale harmonizations abstracted from cantatas and passions. After speculating about some reasons for the discrepancy between Bach's priviledged position in the Western canon and the lack of analyses of arguably his most important works, my dissertation will develop a framework for analyzing Bach's cantatas, drawing primarily on the analytical philosophy of David Lewin, enriched by the literary theories of Northrop Frye and Frederic Jameson.

Analytical Studies of Selected Cantatas by J.S. Bach

Analytical Studies of Selected Cantatas by J.S. Bach PDF Author: Owen Belcher
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Musical analysis
Languages : en
Pages : 856

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Book Description
Johann Sebastian Bach is considered by music historians, music theorists, performers, and audiences among the most significant composers of the Western world. Yet, the genre in which he was most prolific--the church cantata--has received little attention from the music-theoretical community beyond corpus studies of aria forms.\, listener's guides, and listings of madrigalisms. Crucially, there is very little detailed musical analysis of cantatas, other than chorale harmonizations abstracted from cantatas and passions. After speculating about some reasons for the discrepancy between Bach's priviledged position in the Western canon and the lack of analyses of arguably his most important works, my dissertation will develop a framework for analyzing Bach's cantatas, drawing primarily on the analytical philosophy of David Lewin, enriched by the literary theories of Northrop Frye and Frederic Jameson.

Analyzing Bach Cantatas

Analyzing Bach Cantatas PDF Author: Eric Chafe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199882975
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Bach's cantatas are among the highest achievements of Western musical art, yet studies of the individual cantatas that are both illuminating and detailed are few. In this book, noted Bach expert Eric Chafe combines theological, historical, analytical, and interpretive approaches to the cantatas to offer readers and listeners alike the richest possible experience of these works. A respected theorist of seventeenth-century music, Chafe is sensitive to the composer's intentions and to the enduring and universal qualities of the music itself. Concentrating on a small number of representative cantatas, mostly from the Leipzig cycles of 1723-24 and 1724-25, and in particular on Cantata 77, Chafe shows how Bach strove to mirror both the dogma and the mystery of religious experience in musical allegory. Analyzing Bach Cantatas offers valuable information on the theological relevance of the structure of the liturgical year for the design and content of these works, as well as a survey of the theories of modality that inform Bach's compositional style. Chafe demonstrates that, while Bach certainly employed "pictorialism" and word-painting in his compositions, his method of writing music was a more complex amalgam of theological concepts and music theory. Regarding the cantatas as musical allegories that reflect the fundamental tenets of Lutheran theology as established during Bach's lifetime, Chafe synthesizes a number of key musical and theological ideas to illuminate the essential character of these great works. This unique and insightful book offers an essential methodology for understanding one of the central bodies of work in the Western musical canon. It will prove indispensable for all students and scholars of Bach's work, musicology, and theological studies.

Compositional Choices and Meaning in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach

Compositional Choices and Meaning in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach PDF Author: Mark A. Peters
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498554962
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
Compositional Choices and Meaning in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach collects seventeen essays by leading Bach scholars. The authors each address in some way such questions of meaning in J. S. Bach’s vocal compositions—including his Passions, Masses, Magnificat, and cantatas—with particular attention to how such meaning arises out of the intentionality of Bach’s own compositional choices or (in Part IV in particular) how meaning is discovered, and created, through the reception of Bach’s vocal works. And the authors do not consider such compositional choices in a vacuum, but rather discuss Bach’s artistic intentions within the framework of broader cultural trends—social, historical, theological, musical, etc. Such questions of compositional choice and meaning frame the four primary approaches to Bach’s vocal music taken by the authors in this volume, as seen across the book’s four parts: Part I: How might the study of historical theology inform our understanding of Bach’s compositional choices in his music for the church (cantatas, Passions, masses)? Part II: How can we apply traditional analytical tools to understand better how Bach’s compositions were created and how they might have been heard by his contemporaries? Part III: What we can understand anew through the study of Bach’s self-borrowing (i.e., parody), which always changed the earlier meaning of a composition through changes in textual content, compositional characteristics, the work’s context within a larger composition, and often the performance context (from court to church, for example)? Part IV: What can the study of reception teach us about a work’s meaning(s) in Bach’s time, during the time of his immediate successors, and at various points since then (including our present)? The chapters in this volume thus reflect the breadth of current Bach research in its attention not only to source study and analysis, but also to meanings and contexts for understanding Bach’s compositions.

The Cantatas of J.S. Bach

The Cantatas of J.S. Bach PDF Author: Alfred Dürr
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198167075
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 984

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Book Description
This is the only English translation of this important book by the world's most distinguished Bach scholar.

The World of the Bach Cantatas

The World of the Bach Cantatas PDF Author: Christoph Wolff
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780393336740
Category : Cantatas
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The cantatas of J.S. Bach are among the best known and most frequently performed musical works of the baroque period. However, when they are played and heard today, questions arise that are difficult to answer because the works are being experienced outside their historical context.

The Cantatas of J.S. Bach

The Cantatas of J.S. Bach PDF Author: W. Murray Young
Publisher: Jefferson, N.C. : MacFarland
ISBN:
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A thorough and invaluable reference for students of music, church groups, listeners and performers, this work translates the libretti, or text, of each of 253 sacred and secular cantatas by Bach into current, readable English and provides interpretative commentary on each movement. The cantatas are listed chronologically according to the town or city where Bach composed them. The sacred cantatas are discussed first, followed by secular ones. The Easter, Ascension, and Christmas oratorios are covered iin great detail. The text includes biographical information whenever relevant. An appendix lists the three cantata types (free--that is, based directly on the Bible and treated by Bach as he wished for choir and soloists; solo; and chorale) by their BWV (Bachwerke Verzeichnis) numbers. The general index also includes names of librettists and places involved in the writing or performing of the cantatas.

The Cantatas of J. S. Bach

The Cantatas of J. S. Bach PDF Author: Alfred Dürr
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191058130
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 984

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Book Description
This is the only English translation of this important book by the world's most distinguished Bach scholar. This work is widely regarded as the most authoritative and comprehensive treatment of the Bach cantatas. It begins with a historical survey of the seventeenth-century background to the cantatas, and performance practice issues. The core of the book is a work-by-work study in which each cantata in turn is represented by its libretto, a synopsis of its movements, and a detailed analytical commentary. This format makes it extremely useful as a reference work for anyone listening to, performing in, or studying any of the Bach cantatas. All the cantata librettos are given in German-English parallel text. For the English edition the text has been carefully revised to bring it up to date, taking account of recent Bach scholarship.

The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach

The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach PDF Author: Robin Leaver
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1315452804
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
The Ashgate Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach provides an indispensable introduction to the Bach research of the past thirty-fifty years. It is not a lexicon providing information on all the major aspects of Bach's life and work, such as the Oxford Composer Companion: J. S. Bach. Nor is it an entry-level research tool aimed at those making a beginning of such studies. The valuable essays presented here are designed for the next level of Bach research and are aimed at masters and doctoral students, as well as others interested in coming to terms with the current state of Bach research. Each author covers three aspects within their specific subject area; firstly, to describe the results of research over the past thirty-fifty years, concentrating on the most significant and controversial, such as: the debate over Smend's NBA edition of the B minor Mass; Blume's conclusions with regard to Bach's religion in the wake of the 'new' chronology; Rifkin's one-to-a-vocal-part interpretation; the rediscovery of the Berlin Singakademie manuscripts in Kiev; the discovery of hitherto unknown manuscripts and documents and the re-evaluation of previously known sources. Secondly, each author provides a critical analysis of current research being undertaken that is exploring new aspects, reinterpreting earlier assumptions, and/or opening-up new methodologies. For example, Martin W. B. Jarvis has suggested that Anna Magdalena Bach composed the cello suites and contributed to other works of her husband - another controversial hypothesis, whose newly proposed forensic methodology requires investigation. On the other hand, research into Bach's knowledge of the Lutheran chorale tradition is currently underway, which is likely to shed more light on the composer's choices and usage of this tradition. Thirdly, each author identifies areas that are still in need of investigation and research.

A Conductor's Guide to the Choral-orchestral Works of J.S. Bach

A Conductor's Guide to the Choral-orchestral Works of J.S. Bach PDF Author: Jonathan D. Green
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810837331
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 644

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Book Description
Focusing on the works of J. S. Bach, this invaluable guide surveys the choral-orchestral repertoire.

Analyzing Bach Cantatas

Analyzing Bach Cantatas PDF Author: Eric Chafe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195347552
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Bach's cantatas are among the highest achievements of Western musical art, yet studies of the individual cantatas that are both illuminating and detailed are few. In this book, noted Bach expert Eric Chafe combines theological, historical, analytical, and interpretive approaches to the cantatas to offer readers and listeners alike the richest possible experience of these works. A respected theorist of seventeenth-century music, Chafe is sensitive to the composer's intentions and to the enduring and universal qualities of the music itself. Concentrating on a small number of representative cantatas, mostly from the Leipzig cycles of 1723-24 and 1724-25, and in particular on Cantata 77, Chafe shows how Bach strove to mirror both the dogma and the mystery of religious experience in musical allegory. Analyzing Bach Cantatas offers valuable information on the theological relevance of the structure of the liturgical year for the design and content of these works, as well as a survey of the theories of modality that inform Bach's compositional style. Chafe demonstrates that, while Bach certainly employed "pictorialism" and word-painting in his compositions, his method of writing music was a more complex amalgam of theological concepts and music theory. Regarding the cantatas as musical allegories that reflect the fundamental tenets of Lutheran theology as established during Bach's lifetime, Chafe synthesizes a number of key musical and theological ideas to illuminate the essential character of these great works. This unique and insightful book offers an essential methodology for understanding one of the central bodies of work in the Western musical canon. It will prove indispensable for all students and scholars of Bach's work, musicology, and theological studies.